Throughout many centuries and decades, Iraq has managed to become one of the most globally impacting countries in the world, especially to nations such as Iran and the United States of America. It's leaders, corrupt government, wars, and hardships have come to be known throughout the world. With both its internal and external battles and conflicts, its tragedies continue to impact not only its surrounding nations, but also the rest of the world.
1) Iraq Political Map 2)Iraq Physical Map
Timeline: 1917: British troops occupy Baghdad
1921: Britain sets up its own government in Iraq with King Faisal I as the ruling monarch.
1925: The League of Nations, despite what claims Turkey made to this region, placed the city of Mosul in Iraq when defining borders, much against the wishes of the Kurdish people.
1932: Iraq gains independence.
1945: End of World War II, and Iraq helps form the Arab League.
September 22, 1980: Saddam Hussein invades Iran.
1988: Iraq launches a poison gas attack on Kurds, killing 5,000 Kurds in the town of Halabja. This attack took place as part of the Iran/Iraq war, as Iraq wanted to demolish Halabja, the center “for Kurdish resistance in their struggle for autonomy”. Iraqis used 14 aircraft groups, with between 7 and 8 planes in each. The attacks were focused on the center city and its close surroundings. Most suffered from mustard gas exposure and those who managed to beat death, developed serious respiratory and eyesight problems from the harsh chemicals in the attack. 75% of the people attacked were women and children. People reported as to having seen “clouds of smoke billowing upwards white, black, and then yellow, rising as a column about 150 feet” (BBC).
1990: Saddam Hussein announced that the country of Kuwait was draining oil from a field inisde Iraq’s border that “rightfully belonged” to the Iraqis and he threatened force to take it. In July, Iraqs’ armed forces moved towards war with Kuwait. (August 2: Iraq invades Kuwait)
Jan 15 1991: Deadline for Iraqi removal of forces from Kuwait, given by America.
Feb 22 1991: G. Bush gives a twenty-four deadline for Iraq to withdraw Kuwait or face an American invasion.
Feb 23 1991: America invades Iraq in an attack that lasted 100 hours. Thousands of soldiers killed, tens of thousands surrendered and America had won.
Feb 27 1991: Bush, with support of army General Army Powell, declared that Kuwait was liberated and Iraq faced a defeat with all offensive operations ending at 8 AM the following morning. Iraq accepted this defeat and announcment and claimed to abide by UN resolutions concerned with the invasion.
April 3 1991: Resolution 687 passed; Saddam Hussein can stay in power must destroy all weapons of mass destruction which leads into the start of hiding weaponry.
September 15, 2001: Bush begins plans for war in Iraq by instructing the Pentagon to start developing plans of action. January 20, 2003: First troops arrive in Iraq. November 6, 2006: Saddam Hussein sentenced to death. December 30, 2006: Saddam Hussein was executed. Starting December 2011: Last troops leave Iraq. 20th Century Problems:
Iran/Iraq War:
Saddam Hussein invaded Iran on September 22, 1980 due to a dispute over the waterway that divides the two countries (the Shatt al-Arab). Although this is the alleged reason that the Iraqi leader used for invading, the real reason of invasion is the rivalry between the two countries. Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iran leader that received power after the Islamic revolution in the previous year, wished to see Saddam Hussein's downfall. The Iranian leader believed that the Iraqi leader was brutal and oppressed his country’s Shia people. Saddam Hussein felt threatened by Ayatollah Khomeini because he knew that he was Khomeini’s target. Saddam Hussein's hope was to overthrow Ayatollah Khomeini before he could do the same to him. After two years, the Iraqis action of starting war had backfired- the Iranians had regained all territory lost and they started to move into Iraq. Saddam Hussein's assumption of being able to easily beat Iran cost his country in the end. Many lives were lost through "human wave" attacks, (a frontal attack preformed by a dense amount of unarmed soldiers) by the Iranians, and by the chemical weapons used by Saddam Hussein on the Kurds and the Iranians (this is also during the time period when the Kurdish genocide took place), and both sides attacked civilians from the air. Each country hurt the other's trade by attacking oil tankers and merchant ships in the Gulf, which introduced separate countries into the conflict. Kuwait, the United States, and the Soviet Union helped the Iranians to eventually accept a ceasefire in 1988. Neither country had been able to overthrow the other's leader. By the end of the war, around 0.5-1.5 million lives were lost. Iraq's economic downfall led them to eventually invade Kuwait and Iranians began to question their government. This conflict did not resolve in victory for either country, but rather lead them into more problems.
Gulf War I:
In the 1980’s Americans seemed to overlook the regime of Saddam Hussein and supported Iraq in its’ war with Iran, lasted from 1980 to 1988 by believing, “The enemy of an enemy is my friend”, and Iran was very much an enemy if they ignored the 1986 “friendly” effort to gain Iran’s favor with the secret sale of arms in the Iran-Contra scandal. President Bush, back in the 1900’s, favored Iraq in the war, despite its’ leader’s threats against Israel, its’ evidence of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and his detrimental suppression of the Kurds, a Sunni minority in Iraq with attempts of poisoning and murdering these people. The Kurdish people consisted of around 15 to 20 million people living in a mountainous region around Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, who were a non-Arabic group that remained close with the Sunni Muslim religion. Because the Kurds supported Iran in the Iran/Iraq war, Saddam Hussein attacked them. In the Iran/ Iraq war, America did everything that was in their power to help. They sent massive food exports on favorable, agreeing terms, encouraged trade of technological, yet safe, or “non-lethal” items, and the US government ignored human rights activists’ pleas to stop helping Iraq as well as dismissed Leader Hussein’s public threat to annihilate Israel using Iraq’s chemical warfare.
Starting with the suppression of the Kurdish people, the American government finally took a step forward to stop the sadistic oppression by the Iraqi’s. On November 29, 1990, America’s Security Council gave Saddam Hussein until January of 1991 to stop its’ aggression and remove its troops from Kuwait, and if he didn’t, then “all necessary means” would be taken.
On January 12, a vote by the Senate of 52 to 47 and in the House, 250 to 183, gave Bush the right to use force after Saddam Hussein ignored America’s threat.
The war began on January 16 with bombing and the usage of missiles against Baghdad and Iraq in Kuwait called Operation Desert Storm, to which Iraq responded by firing against Israel. Iraq suggested to America at the time of invading Kuwait that Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza strip along with Iraq’s establishment of a Palestinian state should go hand in hand with the settlement of Kuwait. America ignored this idea and thought it wrong to “reward” a country for its aggression.
Iraqi troops blew up many oil wells in Kuwait and also dumped millions of gallons of dirty oil into the Persian Gulf. On February 22nd, America set up a twenty-four hour deadline for Iraq giving them a choice either to withdraw from Kuwait, or face an invasion. Ignoring America, Hussein did not withdraw and faced a massive fire invasion on February 23rd that lasted for 100 hours. On the 27th, Bush, with the General, declared that Kuwait was liberated and that America had officially defeated Iraq.
Summaries: Genocide: In 1988, Saddam Hussein's military killed at least 50,000 Kurdish people and destroyed 2,000 villages. Kurdish officials and human rights advocates believe the number to be much higher (at least hundreds of thousands arrested, tortured, relocated, or killed). The people who escaped that were allowed to live were forced into other countries or in the less developed back part of Iraq. If the Kurds fought back chemical weapons were used against them. Not only is Saddam Hussein accused of this, but he is also charged with killing 148 men and boys in the Shiite village of Dujail. This was one of the first case he was tried on because it is much easier to find evidence that Saddam Hussein himself was linked to the crime, where with the Anfal case (the genocide) it took years to put together evidence.
US Declares War: President Bush declared in 2003 war on Iraq, the second Gulf War which occurred partially as a response to the horrific events of 9/11. America, or rather that American government and many of its people, took Iraq's fate into their hands after the terrorist attempted attacks of 2001. Bush claimed and believed that the Iraqi government was funding the Taliban, the group that was behind the dreadful events of the attack, and also believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and therefore attacked Iraq, although many sources believe that the plan to attack Iraq for the second time was formed before 2001. Bush announced that with American moving into Iraqi frontiers, 35 other fellow countries were offering America their full military and naval support and announced that America was heading into Iraq with pure respect for its' people and their customs and religion. In his declaration of war, the former President promised that the American military forces would use all possible attempts to spare "innocent civilians" and explained his hope for war, as he would accept no other outcome but victory. In order to help Iraq become a stable and united nation once again without the oppressive, harsh rule of the Iraqi government under the sadist leadership of Saddam Hussein, who used his own people as shields for his military soldiers by placing his troops in civilian areas, Bush felt it necessary to occupy Iraq. His hope was to create a better nation, with peace and hope once again.
REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR:
In his State of the Union address on January 29, 2003, Bush says, "Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the gravest danger facing America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. These regimes could use such weapons for blackmail, terror, and mass murder... Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced the prospect of being the last casualty in a war he had started and lost. To spare himself, he agreed to disarm of all weapons of mass destruction. For the next 12 years, he systematically violated that agreement. He pursued chemical, biological and nuclear weapons even while inspectors were in his country... The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary, he is deceiving."
Bush comments on the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and how he violated the agreement to disarm weapons of mass destruction, therefore posing a danger for America. Bush refers to the genocide Hussein committed by saying that weapons were even used inside Iraq.
On March 18, Bush poses an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein:
"The Iraqi regime has used diplomacy as a ploy to gain time and advantage. It has uniformly defied Security Council resolutions demanding full disarmament...
The danger is clear: using chemical, biological, or, one day, nuclear weapons obtained with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfil their stated ambitions and kill thousands of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country or any other...
Under Resolutions 678 and 687, both still in effect, the United States and our allies are authorised to use force in ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction...
Today, no nation can possibly claim that Iraq has disarmed. And it will not disarm so long as Saddam Hussein holds power." While Bush believes America has justified reasons to invade Iraq based on the belief that Iraq is armed with dangerous weapons, former President Ford reveals in a 2004 interview that he would not have gone to war with Iraq. His opinion is that "Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction...I feel very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do" He goes on to say that he "understand(s) the theory of wanting to free people", but is not sure whether if that is in America's national interest. He adds, "And I just don't think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security" Later on, Bush would give a new reason for the war: it's large oil resources and wanting to protect them against the control of extreme terrorists.
Effects of the war:
At the time the Americans officially ended their mission in December 2011, 4,487 service members were lost and 32,226 were wounded out of the more than one million of those who served. The US military still has two military bases in Iraq. Not only did the war cause for many losses, it also left political instability in Iraq. Tensions have been rising between the Shiite and Sunni government leaders. The Shiite leaders have been ruling with force and fear. The Iraq government has put restrictions on freedom of expression on its people in the past year. Al Qaeda has increased its attacks because American forces have not been able to stop them, making the daily death toll rise significantly. Even as the American forces withdrew, a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad took place. Events such as these continue to make Iraq an unstable country.
Genocide:
The Iraqi High Tribunal was created to try Saddam Hussein and others involved with the crimes he was accused of committing. The hope for this was to establish a judicial system in Iraq that was independent and free of political influence. Instead, Iraq's leaders disrespected the Iraqi High Tribunal and removed trial judges.
1st trial against crimes in Dujail, where Hussein killed 148 boys and men, took place in October 2005- November 2006. Saddam Hussein was found guilty and executed on December 30, 2006.
In August 2006, the trial in which Saddam Hussein was charged with genocide took place. The Kurdish Genocide, taking place at the end of the Iran/Iraq war, caused an estimated death of 100,000 by the Human Rights Watch. The Iraq government was the first government to use chemical weapons against its own people. Qala Dizeh, having 70,000 residents, was just one of the estimated dozens of administrative centers and towns that was destroyed. 2,000 villages were lost during the genocide. The Anfal (Kurdish genocide) trial continued past his death and verdicts were determined for the rest of the people involved. Mr.Majid, Saddam Hussein's cousin and also the commander of the Anfal campaign, and two other Baath officials were sentenced to death in 2007, and two other officials received life sentences due to their crimes.
The Iraq Oil Problem:
TPC/IPC:Since before World War I, Iraq has been a hotspot for other nations looking to acquire crude oil, or petroleum. It was rumored in the late 19th century that there were rich lands of oil in the Ottoman empire, specifically from the Germans and British. In 1911 the company TPC, or Turkish Petroleum Company, was formed for the purpose of exploration and exploitation of crude oil from Mesopotamia, or modernly known as Iraq.
The TPC was made of a group of very large European businesses including the Deutsche Bank, the Anglo Saxon Oil Company, the National Bank of Turkey, and an Armenian business man, Calouste Gulbenkian, as well as other large corporations connected to European governments. The largest shareholder in 1914 was the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which was owned by the British government and held 50% of the shares of TPC. In 1914, the TPC received the OK from the Ottoman empire to begin exploration for crude oil. Although they had a concession the beginning of World War I brought a hold to the agreement, and all talks were postponed until 1920.
At the San Romero conference in 1920 the French and the US were allowed to buy into TPC. In 1925 the TPC made an agreement with the Iraqi government so that they could extract oil, for the payment of a royalty on every ton extracted that would, in theory, be payable 20 years later, which in the end they never received. In 1927 oil was struck in Iraq and negotiations for the shares of TPC were rushed, bringing the shares to 23.75% for the British, French, Germans, and the United States The remaining 5% went to Calouste Gulbenkian. In 1929, the Turkish Petroleum Company was renamed the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC).
During the Great Depression, there was a conflict of interest, because greater output from Iraq would lower the price of oil; while some nations had other sources and didn’t need it, other nations were reliant on Iraq for oil and needed a higher output. From 1932 to 1958 the Hashemite monarch worked well with the IPC, mainly because he was a monarch installed by the British government. But in the 1960's, the growing strength of Nationalism, and a deal signed with Russia, resulted in an increase of demands from the Iraqi government asking for 20% of the company, and more control of the fields. The IPC tried to compromise, but to no avail. The Ba'athist Iraqi government nationalized the IPC on June 1, 1972. Today the Abu Dhabi Petroleum company owns most of the production, but the large shareholders resemble that of the original IPC company make-up.
Links: British goes to war for oil
This video is a clear description of the motives of the US and Britain, for attacking Iraq in 2003. This shows that there were top secret memos that describe Iraq's oil as a vital resource for the west. The video also says that Tony Blair, the prime minister of England, deliberately lied to his citizens for motive about going to war. This video reveals the power and influence of oil and that hundreds of thousands of people were indirectly killed in the process of acquiring Iraqi oil.
Key People:
Grand Ayatollah ali al-sistani: The most powerful man in Iraq, al-sistani is the most powerful religious leader in the country as the most senior cleric of Iraq's Shia majority. Since the fall of Saddam he has played a minor role, but he was a major player in instituting the January 2005 elections and had backed Ibrahim al-Jaafari to become prime minister. He is one of only five grand ayatollahs in the world.
Jalal Talabani: He was the leader of the Kurds, and he was elected Iraq's new president on April 6, 2005. He is the first Kurd to be Iraq's president. President Talabani had opposed governments in Baghdad for much of the last 40 years. He leads the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which maintains an eastern part of Kurdish ruled land. The PUK controls around 25,000 soldiers. President Talabani wants a Nationalist Iraq with Kurds running their own region.
Saddam Hussein: He was a major political figure from 1958 up until his execution in 2006, of which for 24 years, he ruled as president of Iraq. In 1958 he was part of an assassination attempt to bring the Ba’athist political party into power. Though the attempt failed, due to growing nationalism in Iraq, in 1963 the Ba’athist party took power. Saddam was by all means an ambitious ruler looking to advance Iraq through military and oil. In 1972 president Hussein nationalized the Iraqi Petroleum Company essentially seizing the control of the production in Iraq. Furthermore in 1980 Saddam Hussein launched a siege on the Iran oil fields resulting in an 8 year Iraq-Iran war. The war ended in a stalemate, but Iraq accumulated a large amount of foreign debt. In 1990 Saddam launched yet another attempt to gain oil by overrunning Kuwait, and using their oilfields to settle their debt. The UN did not condone actions and ordered Iraq to leave Kuwait. When Saddam refused the Persion Gulf war began, and Iraq suffered a crushing defeat. This led to civil unrest within Iraq but Saddam quickly suppressed any resistance. After 9-11 The US gave Saddam 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war. When he refused, the US and Britain attacked Iraq and captured Saddam Hussein. In 2006 he was brought to trial in Iraq and convicted of crimes against humanity, and was sentenced to hanging.
Summary of page:
Iraq has been the hot spot for war, destruction, and murder since the mid 1900's. A preposterous, but yet very true and realistic, idea is that it alliances, wars, and battles all originated from the want, or what countries called, the need for oil. America supported Iraq in its war with Iran where lives where lost and families torn apart, just so America could have easy access to oil. It even helped Iraq by offering favorable trading terms and exports to try to gain Iraq's favor. Then again, when Iraq was faced with economic decline after the harsh battles of Iran, its attack on Kuwait was spurred on by Iraq's hope to gain control of the oil reserves there. A reoccurring theme of the drive for oil is shown throughout Iraq's history as control and domination of a world wide needed resource had been the incentive in killing people and starting countless wars. In the 20th century, America tried to stop the suppression of Iraqi's own people but the horror of genocide and corrupt government under the leadership of Saddam Hussein continued for years. By the time Saddam Hussein was executed, he had preformed mass murder multiple times and went against the good of his own people. Since American troops have left in December of 2011 and the Iraq/America war, known as the second Gulf War, or in some cases, as "Operation Iraqi Freedom", has ended, Iraq will need to nationalize its people and unify what remains they have, not in order to continue fighting with Iran in their never ending dispute over Sunni and Shia Muslims, but to recollect and rebuild their nation for the better and to learn from past mistakes in government and corrupt leadership. With this hope, Iraq may once again become a great and rising nation.
By Sara Roelke, Michael Oliveri, Dina Fradkin
IRAQ-
Throughout many centuries and decades, Iraq has managed to become one of the most globally impacting countries in the world, especially to nations such as Iran and the United States of America. It's leaders, corrupt government, wars, and hardships have come to be known throughout the world. With both its internal and external battles and conflicts, its tragedies continue to impact not only its surrounding nations, but also the rest of the world.1) Iraq Political Map 2) Iraq Physical Map
Timeline:
1917: British troops occupy Baghdad
1921: Britain sets up its own government in Iraq with King Faisal I as the ruling monarch.
1925: The League of Nations, despite what claims Turkey made to this region, placed the city of Mosul in Iraq when defining borders, much against the wishes of the Kurdish people.
1932: Iraq gains independence.
1945: End of World War II, and Iraq helps form the Arab League.
September 22, 1980: Saddam Hussein invades Iran.
1988: Iraq launches a poison gas attack on Kurds, killing 5,000 Kurds in the town of Halabja. This attack took place as part of the Iran/Iraq war, as Iraq wanted to demolish Halabja, the center “for Kurdish resistance in their struggle for autonomy”. Iraqis used 14 aircraft groups, with between 7 and 8 planes in each. The attacks were focused on the center city and its close surroundings. Most suffered from mustard gas exposure and those who managed to beat death, developed serious respiratory and eyesight problems from the harsh chemicals in the attack. 75% of the people attacked were women and children. People reported as to having seen “clouds of smoke billowing upwards white, black, and then yellow, rising as a column about 150 feet” (BBC).
1990: Saddam Hussein announced that the country of Kuwait was draining oil from a field inisde Iraq’s border that “rightfully belonged” to the Iraqis and he threatened force to take it. In July, Iraqs’ armed forces moved towards war with Kuwait. (August 2: Iraq invades Kuwait)
September 15, 2001: Bush begins plans for war in Iraq by instructing the Pentagon to start developing plans of action.
January 20, 2003: First troops arrive in Iraq.
November 6, 2006: Saddam Hussein sentenced to death.
December 30, 2006: Saddam Hussein was executed.
Starting December 2011: Last troops leave Iraq.
20th Century Problems:
Iran/Iraq War:
Saddam Hussein invaded Iran on September 22, 1980 due to a dispute over the waterway that divides the two countries (the Shatt al-Arab). Although this is the alleged reason that the Iraqi leader used for invading, the real reason of invasion is the rivalry between the two countries. Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iran leader that received power after the Islamic revolution in the previous year, wished to see Saddam Hussein's downfall. The Iranian leader believed that the Iraqi leader was brutal and oppressed his country’s Shia people. Saddam Hussein felt threatened by Ayatollah Khomeini because he knew that he was Khomeini’s target. Saddam Hussein's hope was to overthrow Ayatollah Khomeini before he could do the same to him. After two years, the Iraqis action of starting war had backfired- the Iranians had regained all territory lost and they started to move into Iraq. Saddam Hussein's assumption of being able to easily beat Iran cost his country in the end. Many lives were lost through "human wave" attacks, (a frontal attack preformed by a dense amount of unarmed soldiers) by the Iranians, and by the chemical weapons used by Saddam Hussein on the Kurds and the Iranians (this is also during the time period when the Kurdish genocide took place), and both sides attacked civilians from the air. Each country hurt the other's trade by attacking oil tankers and merchant ships in the Gulf, which introduced separate countries into the conflict. Kuwait, the United States, and the Soviet Union helped the Iranians to eventually accept a ceasefire in 1988. Neither country had been able to overthrow the other's leader. By the end of the war, around 0.5-1.5 million lives were lost. Iraq's economic downfall led them to eventually invade Kuwait and Iranians began to question their government. This conflict did not resolve in victory for either country, but rather lead them into more problems.
Gulf War I:
In the 1980’s Americans seemed to overlook the regime of Saddam Hussein and supported Iraq in its’ war with Iran, lasted from 1980 to 1988 by believing, “The enemy of an enemy is my friend”, and Iran was very much an enemy if they ignored the 1986 “friendly” effort to gain Iran’s favor with the secret sale of arms in the Iran-Contra scandal. President Bush, back in the 1900’s, favored Iraq in the war, despite its’ leader’s threats against Israel, its’ evidence of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and his detrimental suppression of the Kurds, a Sunni minority in Iraq with attempts of poisoning and murdering these people. The Kurdish people consisted of around 15 to 20 million people living in a mountainous region around Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, who were a non-Arabic group that remained close with the Sunni Muslim religion. Because the Kurds supported Iran in the Iran/Iraq war, Saddam Hussein attacked them. In the Iran/ Iraq war, America did everything that was in their power to help. They sent massive food exports on favorable, agreeing terms, encouraged trade of technological, yet safe, or “non-lethal” items, and the US government ignored human rights activists’ pleas to stop helping Iraq as well as dismissed Leader Hussein’s public threat to annihilate Israel using Iraq’s chemical warfare.
21st Century Problems
Articles:
Genocide-New York Times
US Declares War 2003
Summaries:
Genocide:
In 1988, Saddam Hussein's military killed at least 50,000 Kurdish people and destroyed 2,000 villages. Kurdish officials and human rights advocates believe the number to be much higher (at least hundreds of thousands arrested, tortured, relocated, or killed). The people who escaped that were allowed to live were forced into other countries or in the less developed back part of Iraq. If the Kurds fought back chemical weapons were used against them. Not only is Saddam Hussein accused of this, but he is also charged with killing 148 men and boys in the Shiite village of Dujail. This was one of the first case he was tried on because it is much easier to find evidence that Saddam Hussein himself was linked to the crime, where with the Anfal case (the genocide) it took years to put together evidence.
US Declares War:
President Bush declared in 2003 war on Iraq, the second Gulf War which occurred partially as a response to the horrific events of 9/11. America, or rather that American government and many of its people, took Iraq's fate into their hands after the terrorist attempted attacks of 2001. Bush claimed and believed that the Iraqi government was funding the Taliban, the group that was behind the dreadful events of the attack, and also believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and therefore attacked Iraq, although many sources believe that the plan to attack Iraq for the second time was formed before 2001. Bush announced that with American moving into Iraqi frontiers, 35 other fellow countries were offering America their full military and naval support and announced that America was heading into Iraq with pure respect for its' people and their customs and religion. In his declaration of war, the former President promised that the American military forces would use all possible attempts to spare "innocent civilians" and explained his hope for war, as he would accept no other outcome but victory. In order to help Iraq become a stable and united nation once again without the oppressive, harsh rule of the Iraqi government under the sadist leadership of Saddam Hussein, who used his own people as shields for his military soldiers by placing his troops in civilian areas, Bush felt it necessary to occupy Iraq. His hope was to create a better nation, with peace and hope once again.
REASONS FOR GOING TO WAR:
In his State of the Union address on January 29, 2003, Bush says,
"Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the gravest danger facing America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. These regimes could use such weapons for blackmail, terror, and mass murder...
Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced the prospect of being the last casualty in a war he had started and lost. To spare himself, he agreed to disarm of all weapons of mass destruction.
For the next 12 years, he systematically violated that agreement. He pursued chemical, biological and nuclear weapons even while inspectors were in his country...
The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary, he is deceiving."
Bush comments on the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and how he violated the agreement to disarm weapons of mass destruction, therefore posing a danger for America. Bush refers to the genocide Hussein committed by saying that weapons were even used inside Iraq.
On March 18, Bush poses an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein:
"The Iraqi regime has used diplomacy as a ploy to gain time and advantage. It has uniformly defied Security Council resolutions demanding full disarmament...
The danger is clear: using chemical, biological, or, one day, nuclear weapons obtained with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfil their stated ambitions and kill thousands of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country or any other...
Under Resolutions 678 and 687, both still in effect, the United States and our allies are authorised to use force in ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction...
Today, no nation can possibly claim that Iraq has disarmed. And it will not disarm so long as Saddam Hussein holds power."
While Bush believes America has justified reasons to invade Iraq based on the belief that Iraq is armed with dangerous weapons, former President Ford reveals in a 2004 interview that he would not have gone to war with Iraq. His opinion is that "Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction...I feel very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do" He goes on to say that he "understand(s) the theory of wanting to free people", but is not sure whether if that is in America's national interest. He adds, "And I just don't think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security"
Later on, Bush would give a new reason for the war: it's large oil resources and wanting to protect them against the control of extreme terrorists.
Effects of the war:
At the time the Americans officially ended their mission in December 2011, 4,487 service members were lost and 32,226 were wounded out of the more than one million of those who served. The US military still has two military bases in Iraq. Not only did the war cause for many losses, it also left political instability in Iraq. Tensions have been rising between the Shiite and Sunni government leaders. The Shiite leaders have been ruling with force and fear. The Iraq government has put restrictions on freedom of expression on its people in the past year. Al Qaeda has increased its attacks because American forces have not been able to stop them, making the daily death toll rise significantly. Even as the American forces withdrew, a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad took place. Events such as these continue to make Iraq an unstable country.
Genocide:
The Iraq Oil Problem:
Links:
British goes to war for oil
This video is a clear description of the motives of the US and Britain, for attacking Iraq in 2003. This shows that there were top secret memos that describe Iraq's oil as a vital resource for the west. The video also says that Tony Blair, the prime minister of England, deliberately lied to his citizens for motive about going to war. This video reveals the power and influence of oil and that hundreds of thousands of people were indirectly killed in the process of acquiring Iraqi oil.
Key People:
Grand Ayatollah ali al-sistani: The most powerful man in Iraq, al-sistani is the most powerful religious leader in the country as the most senior cleric of Iraq's Shia majority. Since the fall of Saddam he has played a minor role, but he was a major player in instituting the January 2005 elections and had backed Ibrahim al-Jaafari to become prime minister. He is one of only five grand ayatollahs in the world.
Jalal Talabani: He was the leader of the Kurds, and he was elected Iraq's new president on April 6, 2005. He is the first Kurd to be Iraq's president. President Talabani had opposed governments in Baghdad for much of the last 40 years. He leads the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which maintains an eastern part of Kurdish ruled land. The PUK controls around 25,000 soldiers. President Talabani wants a Nationalist Iraq with Kurds running their own region.
Saddam Hussein:
He was a major political figure from 1958 up until his execution in 2006, of which for 24 years, he ruled as president of Iraq. In 1958 he was part of an assassination attempt to bring the Ba’athist political party into power. Though the attempt failed, due to growing nationalism in Iraq, in 1963 the Ba’athist party took power. Saddam was by all means an ambitious ruler looking to advance Iraq through military and oil. In 1972 president Hussein nationalized the Iraqi Petroleum Company essentially seizing the control of the production in Iraq. Furthermore in 1980 Saddam Hussein launched a siege on the Iran oil fields resulting in an 8 year Iraq-Iran war. The war ended in a stalemate, but Iraq accumulated a large amount of foreign debt. In 1990 Saddam launched yet another attempt to gain oil by overrunning Kuwait, and using their oilfields to settle their debt. The UN did not condone actions and ordered Iraq to leave Kuwait. When Saddam refused the Persion Gulf war began, and Iraq suffered a crushing defeat. This led to civil unrest within Iraq but Saddam quickly suppressed any resistance. After 9-11 The US gave Saddam 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war. When he refused, the US and Britain attacked Iraq and captured Saddam Hussein. In 2006 he was brought to trial in Iraq and convicted of crimes against humanity, and was sentenced to hanging.
Summary of page:
Iraq has been the hot spot for war, destruction, and murder since the mid 1900's. A preposterous, but yet very true and realistic, idea is that it alliances, wars, and battles all originated from the want, or what countries called, the need for oil. America supported Iraq in its war with Iran where lives where lost and families torn apart, just so America could have easy access to oil. It even helped Iraq by offering favorable trading terms and exports to try to gain Iraq's favor. Then again, when Iraq was faced with economic decline after the harsh battles of Iran, its attack on Kuwait was spurred on by Iraq's hope to gain control of the oil reserves there. A reoccurring theme of the drive for oil is shown throughout Iraq's history as control and domination of a world wide needed resource had been the incentive in killing people and starting countless wars. In the 20th century, America tried to stop the suppression of Iraqi's own people but the horror of genocide and corrupt government under the leadership of Saddam Hussein continued for years. By the time Saddam Hussein was executed, he had preformed mass murder multiple times and went against the good of his own people. Since American troops have left in December of 2011 and the Iraq/America war, known as the second Gulf War, or in some cases, as "Operation Iraqi Freedom", has ended, Iraq will need to nationalize its people and unify what remains they have, not in order to continue fighting with Iran in their never ending dispute over Sunni and Shia Muslims, but to recollect and rebuild their nation for the better and to learn from past mistakes in government and corrupt leadership. With this hope, Iraq may once again become a great and rising nation.